Trip To The Highway Patrol

Today I took Thomas to the Florida Highway Patrol to see about getting one step further on his requirements on earning his tiger cub badge for Cub Scouts. We just needed to ask what the Trooper did to help the community, but it turned out, we got alot more than we bargained for! The lady Trooper that came to say hello to Thomas was SO nice and helpful. She asked if Thomas had any questions, and Thomas asked if she ever used any weapons. I was like " what a weird question, but ok. He's 7 and I guess a boy and into that sort of thing.. then asked "do you catch alot of bad guys?" Ok , now we're getting somewhere..., Then "do you like to help people?", as he got more comfortable, more questions started coming out of his mouth . I was impressed! It was like he was conducting his own interview! Before we knew it, the fun part began.. She offered to show him her police car. You wanna see a kid's eyes light up! What do YOU think? well she left, drove her squad car around,and Thomas' eyes lit up. She popped the trunk, and there was her hat in a shell to protect it- I never knew they kept it in a carrier- {so that's how they keep it so nice and tidy looking}, You learn something new everyday! Thomas tried it on for size, Brendan too- they looked too cute! There was this wheel where they trace one point of the scene of an accident to impact point {something like that} - I'd have to say Thomas' favorite item was the baton though for some reason. He kept wanting to hold it and have it taken out. We learned how to hold it and how to use it. Then Thomas got to sit in the squad car- front AND the back- he tried on cuffs too for fun. We slid them on loosely so he could slide his hands out- good photo op. He said - these are like mine at home only they're real! LOL We also turned the lights on and discussed safety like always buckling up because you never know whats going to happen on the road. And you never want to find out the hard way. { Thomas has a nasty habit of unbuckling along the way or not buckling at all no matter how many times we tell him to buckle up while were driving, so we thought if a police officer gave him a talking to, maybe he'd listen}.After bunch of pictures and souvenirs, and a tour of the department, we finally bid the kind Trooper adieu. She did more than her share of coming through, and definitly showed a kid that the police are definitly are our friends and should not be feared whenever we see them on the road as he had in the past. Score one for the good guys!